Pain in my BUTT

BUTT PAIN

Having a pain in your arse is actually quite common. The problem is it's hard to cure and I'm not talking about anything kinky or sci-fi related, unfortunately. 

Art source: www.gibbleguts.com

I'm actually talking about Piriformis Syndrome and/or Sciatica, the latter you may be more familiar with.

Surprisingly I know a lot of people who suffer from "butt pain" and I realised that for those I treat, half the time they don't know they are tight in this area, nor do they know how relax this area. 

Wha...?

The Piriformis, is small muscle deep in glutes (arse): 

• It rotates and stabilises the hip.
• It works with other muscles to turn hips & upper leg outward.
• It's very useful when you need to change direction quickly, while running during sports for example. 

Piriformis Syndrome is thought to arise when the Piriformis compresses the Sciatic nerve, the longest nerve in the body which supplies our lower parts. Prolonged external rotation shortens the muscle and can compress the nerve. If the muscle is too tight or cramps it can increase the pain. 

Sciatica is irritation to the Sciatic nerve, leading to to low back pain, leg pain, numbness, tingling and/or electric shock-like sensations in these areas.

It's hard to cure but whether diagnosed or not, relief can be found in a variety of methods:

• Deep massage
• Traditional Thai massage
• Deep massage with heat & herbal compress
• Deep stretching*
• Sitting on a tennis ball

*The Piriformis Stretch

Go deeper! Get a friend or therapist to slowly & gently draw the right knee (see diagram above) away from your body as you draw lefty towards you. If you are clever you can achieve this extra deep stretch on your own by using your right elbow. Obviously swap sides as necessary. 

What's the lesson here? I'd say, having a tight butt isn't necessarily a good thing...

...Hmm maybe not. 

Natural Healing | Massage Therapy | Yoga Massage by Joey George Brighton/London 

 www.theoilstudio.co.uk